Six days after informing Galway Downs officials that the Temecula, California, venue would not host the 2028 Olympic equestrian events, the LA28 organizing committee announced today that Santa Anita Park has been confirmed as the new Olympic equestrian venue. The Arcadia, California, racetrack has a history with the Olympics.

“The FEI has very fond memories of Santa Anita, which had hosted the equestrian events at the 1984 Olympic Games,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said in a press release. “The venue is set to offer a breathtaking stage for all the Olympic equestrian competitions, and the proximity to [the city of Los Angeles] will undoubtedly attract many spectators to Santa Anita.”

The 320-acre park includes veterinary facilities, a grandstand that seats 26,000 spectators, an infield that accommodates 50,000, and 61 barns that can house more than 2,000 horses. 

Santa Anita’s current owner, 1/ST Racing, has ties to Olympic equestrian sports in addition to racing. Among them, 1/ST CEO Belinda Stronach’s daughter, Nicole Walker, is a jumper rider who has represented Canada through the CSI5* level.

During the 1984 Games, the endurance portion of eventing—roads and tracks, steeplechase and cross-country—was held at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, which is 118 miles away from Santa Anita, in Rancho Santa Fe, California. However, the International Olympic Committee now prioritizes using only existing venues, and it added a requirement that all the equestrian sports be held in one place, versus staging cross-country at a remote site, as happened in 1984. Tuesday’s announcement did not include details regarding where a cross-country course, which rules stipulate should be 3.1 to 3.6 miles long (5,000-5,800 meters), would be built in or around the Santa Anita venue.

When the LA28 committee first proposed Galway Downs as the Olympic equestrian venue in June 2024 as part of a proposal to change several venues from the city’s original 2017 bid to meet the new IOC sustainability requirements, it called Galway Downs “[t]he only existing venue that can accommodate the requirements of Equestrian, while also reducing the cost and complexity of delivery.”

And in late March, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve the venue. But last week, the day of an International Olympic Committee meeting in which Olympic officials gave a noncommittal answer about Galway becoming an Olympic host, the LA28 informed Galway Downs, City of Temecula and Riverside County officials that another venue has been selected.

Local officials, including Galway Downs’ owner and area politicians, expressed their surprise and disappointment at Galway Downs being replaced.

“I’m deeply disappointed to learn that Galway Downs in Temecula is reportedly no longer LA28’s proposed host site for equestrian events at the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games,” U.S. Rep. Darrel Issa told the Orange County Register on Friday. “This abrupt move appears arbitrary, unwarranted, and our community deserves a clear explanation of the process that led to this change. At this time, a satisfactory reason has yet to be offered.”

Representatives of the LA28 committee have not responded to requests for comment.

The venue for the para-equestrian events will be announced at a later date, following the review and approval of the International Paralympic Committee Governing Board, the FEI said in its statement.